Kruger Has Restored Championship Culture

Perhaps last Saturday's game at LSU was the most appropriate setting for Lon Kruger to earn his 100^th victory as Oklahoma men's basketball coach.

His No. 1-ranked Sooners were playing a nationally televised game, in hostile territory, facing the projected No. 1 pick in next June's NBA Draft in Ben Simmons, whose teammates were having arguably their best performance of the season.

Although OU trailed 52-38 with 16 minutes remaining, an eerie poise permeated the veteran visitors. There was no sign of panic, no arguments, no confusion. Battling substantial adversity in front of a ruthless sellout crowd of 13,882 down on the bayou, the nation's top team eventually persevered, and while doing so, the players had become the perfect reflection of their coach.

The Sooners somehow had remained composed and confident. They had become Kruger. If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, you, too, can become a Kruger.

OU survived LSU's gallant upset bid to post a 77-75 victory at Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge. It took 151 starts for Kruger to reach the century mark in victories while directing the Sooners, and each win was cast the same – in Kruger's ridiculously cool, calm and collected manner.

"He has a blueprint on how to do it (win). He's not just done it one or two places. He's done it everywhere he's been."
OU assistant Chris Crutchfield

“Coach is going to be the same every day,” said Steve Henson, who has spent more than a quarter century alongside Kruger as both a player and assistant coach. “It's always about getting better every single day. It's not getting too carried away when we're doing well and not getting discouraged when we're not playing well. Just stay very, very level. Try to win the next possession. Try to win the next game. You hear those messages over and over and over with coach.”

If something works, no need for Kruger to change in his 30^th season as a major college coach.

The 63-year-old Kruger, who has 580 career victories overall, is the only coach to lead five schools to the NCAA Tournament, five schools to multiple NCAA appearances and five schools to NCAA wins (Kansas State, Florida, Illinois, UNLV, OU). He also is the only coach to advance four schools to the Sweet 16 (Kansas State, Florida, UNLV, OU).

Consistency abounds under Kruger. Heading into Saturday's game at Kansas State (alma mater to Kruger and Henson), seniors Buddy Hield, Isaiah Cousins and Ryan Spangler and junior point guard Jordan Woodard have started 89 consecutive games together and are 66-23 (.742). (Sophomore center Khadeem Lattin has started all 21 games this season.)

“Gosh, what those guys have done is amazing,” Henson said of the three-year starters. “But our first group (in 2011-12), we don't want to overlook them. They did everything we asked. We didn't have quite the talent we have at this point, but they worked hard. They helped us set the foundation. We're proud of what those guys did as well. They didn't fight us, didn't resist us. They all got on board from the beginning.”

VP for Intercollegiate Athletics Programs and Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione presents head coach Lon Kruger with a commemorative game ball following his 100th victory at OU.

That same consistency is reflected in the OU staff. Assistant coaches Henson, Lew Hill, Chris Crutchfield, director of operations Mike Shepherd and video coordinator/radio analyst Scott Thompson all arrived alongside Kruger five years ago.

Upon his arrival, Kruger inherited a 14-18 team and every season since has resulted in more wins than the year before.

Asked to share Kruger's key ingredient to turning around a program, Henson said, “Just so many things came into play. He kind of went about it here the same way he always does. You recruit the right guys who all have the big picture in mind and just start to rebuild. He's done it everywhere he's been. We were able to land kids early on in recruiting who certainly helped the process immensely. Our needs initially, we felt we needed a point guard and some size. We needed to plug some holes and those next couple of recruiting classes were pretty significant.”

Forward Romero Osby (2011-13), who transferred to OU from Mississippi State, was in Baton Rouge for the LSU game and reminisced with Hill about joining Kruger in his first season.

“It all started with Romero's group,” Hill said. “The culture was really set his senior year. I remember telling him, 'You could be the first group to start a new culture, or your senior class could go down as one of the losingest classes in Sooner history.' I think Ro took charge of that initial turnaround. He started leading the group and I think the culture was changing with that group. It started that year with Ryan, Isaiah, Buddy, Steven (Pledger), Amath (M'Baye), all those guys. It was their toughness and work ethic that set the culture.”

The Sooners' only setbacks this season both came in the closing seconds of Big Monday road games at two of the nation's toughest venues – 109-106 against Kansas in triple overtime at Allen Field House; and 82-77 against Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum.

“Even at KU and Iowa State, we never panicked,” Hill said. “We always think we're going to find a way to win. You don't win them all, but that's how we play.”

These experienced Sooners have lived and learned, which certainly came in handy last Saturday at LSU.

“We've lost some games like that, don't get me wrong,” Crutchfield said. “A couple of years ago, we would have lost that game, just like we lost at Creighton last year (65-63 after leading by 18 early in the second half). There's been a couple of games we've lost just because we weren't mentally ready or poised. Now we're taking advantage of some of those games we lost last year and two years ago.”

If Kruger has a secret sauce to his success, it might be this: “He gives them confidence, gives them confidence to do what they do every day,” Hill said. “He doesn't beat them down. He just keeps giving them confidence. He's a positive coach. 'Hey, if we do A, B, C and D, we're going to be OK.'”

Kruger's demeanor reverberates throughout the staff.

“He gets on a kid without making him feel bad,” Crutchfield said. “When you give that kind of positive reinforcement every day … these kids are dying to get here (the practice facility) every day. They work hard, but they don't see it as work. They see it as fun and that's because of coach's approach.

“He has a blueprint on how to do it. He's not just done it one or two places. He's done it everywhere he's been. It's hard to change a culture. It's hard to change an atmosphere without having good people around you to reiterate everything you're saying. As a staff, we try to take on his (Kruger's) personality. We're telling these kids, 'This is what we want to do. This is what coach is all about.' Every single day, that's the conversation, but it's all positive, it's all motivating and it's amazing what it can do. You can get a lot better faster.”